Hi, we're OK Great, a tight-knit crew of designers, writers + artists, hell-bent on delivering the best in art, design and culture. The world is a big pile of awesome. We're the spoon. Dig in.
Normally, I really don’t care that I suck at photoshop. Vector stuff is more my style. But then from time to time I stumble across beautifully done work, like this magazine article designed by Justin Mezzell, and I think about maybe going through some more tutorials.
Justin’s work is wonderful because it’s not overdone, and on top of the lush imagery he is able to combine a lot of different kinds of information in a way that isn’t overwhelming. Regardless of what this article is about, I really want to read it, and I think that is the goal of all print design.
You can check out more of Justin’s work on his website. It’s definitely worth a visit.
Fifty and Fifty is a curated collaboration of visual interpretations of each state’s motto. It’s puppetmaster, Dan Cassaro of Young Jerks, is now posting the individual mottos about once a day over on the site. The roster is stacked with the likes of Aaron Draplin, Friends of Type, Ken Barber, Jessica Hische, Mark Weaver, Mickey Burton, Meg Hunt, Richard Perez… you know, all the internet-famous designers we know and love.
I assume Cassaro directed the illustrators to use a two color design (a beautiful shade of red and blue), and judging by the way the illustrators have used those colors, I can foresee a letterpress/screenprint edition coming soon… We can only hope. I’d drop some simoleons on a few of those already…
Check out what I just got back from the printer! Super Ordinary Haircuts is a freelance project I worked on with a Raleigh video production company, Myriad Media. It is a leave behind book about their company culture on which I collaborated with Connie Oh. The cover is bronze ink and orange foil stamp on French Kraft paper. It was my first foil stamp, and I can’t wait to do more! If you want to look inside, I have some more pictures on my behance.
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Stefan Hoffmann over the last week or so at Duke University. Although I’m not a student anymore (alas), I’ve been sitting in on a printmaking class to learn how to silkscreen. Stefan is the visiting Duke to do an installation at the library (more below) and joined us in class to critique our work and help us along in the process.
Stefan’s own work is a truly unique style of screenprinting – that is, he does most of his printing on vertical surfaces: windows, walls, etc. His process is to visit a location, figure out a plan once he’s arrived, and begin printing and removing and printing and removing until the overall aesthetic works itself out. His source material is usually iconographic, historical or contextual to the location. He often films the process, so you can see the transformation slowly take shape.
For local Durham / Triangle peeps, tonight is the reception for his installation in Duke’s Perkins Library in the Gothic Reading Room on the second floor. More deets here. (Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it. Sadness.)
In any case, Stefan has been really great to work with – he helped me through a particularly challenging layer on a piece I’m working on – and does some really cool work. Check out tons more on his site and a video and a few more pics below.
I really like this identity system created by Russian design studio Province for luxury clothing brand Anna & Marina. It’s really classic but that quirky ampersand keeps it interesting. You can check out some more images below the jump or on their Behance page.
